Christmas Eve 2014

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First thing when we got up on Christmas Eve we got everything loaded in the cars (we had to take both of our vehicles to fit it all!) then headed over to Mrs. Charlotte’s house. The kids were SO excited to help unload all the presents. It’s a good thing Mrs. Charlotte has a foyer or else I have no clue where all the gifts would go!!!

Britt was ALL about Big Papa!

Usually every year we have the Cat Creek Classic on Christmas Eve. This year it was BAD weather so they rescheduled it. I know a few of us who wouldn’t mind it being moved permanently 😉 I LOVE the game but it was nice having a day to focus just on the game and Christmas Eve to just focus on family time!

Writing Letters to Santa

At lunch time Big Daddy and Little Mama came over to eat with us. Big Daddy was in such a silly mood, it was so cute. He kept saying he should have left his hearing aids at home because we were all too loud and he ended up stuffing napkins in his ears haha!

First Christmas for these cuties!

When I take pics of Tess now Britt has started asking to be in the pictures too 🙂 So sweet

The girl cousins!

Tess and Carter were both IN LOVE with Tess’s little skirt!

Decorating cookies

Big Daddy and Little Mama with their great-grandchildren! SUCH a blessing!!!

The football game was originally supposed to be during nap time so we had already told Kye he’d get to skip naps for the day. We were going to let Britt skip too but didn’t since there really wasn’t any reason for it and she’s happier when she sleeps. The boys had a great time playing basketball in the garage.

Sweaty Kids!

Once all the kids were up from napping we watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Everyone loves a pallet at G-Mama’s!

Big Papa’s Christmas tradition is checking in on Santa and tracking him online to see where he is and how long before he will be in Valdosta. The kids LOVE it and it’s SO adorable how excited Mr. Rusty gets about it 😉

Haha I love candids b/c you always get some awesome facial expressions 😉

LOTS of stockings this year!

Cookies and letters ready for Santa

More of looking for Santa

Putting out the food for the reindeer!

One more Santa check 😉

Christmas PROS 🙂

Court, Casey and I didn’t even plan it but ended up getting our kids all coordinating pjs!

Growing up a big part of the reason Zach loved their tradition of spending the night at Little Mama’s on Christmas Eve was because he loved sleeping in the same room with all the cousins. We really probably wouldn’t have had Kye start sleeping with Colt and Payton quite yet…but with two new babies Mr. Rusty and Mrs. Charlotte officially ran out of space to sleep us all haha! We did stay firm about Britt sleeping in her own bed. I think our rule will be once you are 5 you can sleep in the big kid room…but we’ll see! It was SO smart for each kid to have their own “bed” to sleep on and so smart to have them in Mr. Rusty and Mrs. Charlotte’s bedroom. They had a bathroom close by if needed and had “the enforcer” in the room in case things got out of hand. They went to bed around 6:30 so they’d have plenty of time to giggle and be excited. We had a monitor in there so we could see them and it was so cute! Santa’s bells could be heard again getting closer to our house so they knew it was time to go to sleep!

Kye said he really had fun sleeping with his cousins but that he didn’t sleep very good. He said one time Big Papa told him to go back to sleep and he was already sleeping so it woke him up hahaha I have no clue if that really happened or not, but overall I’d say it was a successful sleep situation for them!

Tess slept in a pack and play in the bathroom (and she did NOT sleep well that night!) and Britt slept in the closet in Zach’s childhood bedroom. Mrs. Charlotte put a toddler bed in there and it fit awesome! It was the perfect set up for her and she didn’t complain at all about not sleeping with the big kids. She was content in her “special room”

It was GREAT having the kids down so early. Casey and I fed the babies and Zach went to the house to let the dogs out and then we got some housekeeping things done and had plenty of downtime. They played Spoons and it was funny seeing Mr. Rusty try to sit cross legged! I always struggle sleeping at their house? I think it’s the bed? I’m not sure? B/c usually I can sleep anywhere! I went ahead and went to bed early knowing I’d toss and turn some in the night. And it worked out that I did as Tess was up a decent bit through the night anyway. I do LOVE the Spoons idea though and think it’d be a super fun tradition for the adults to do once the kids are in the bed 🙂

The kids had SUCH a fun day and it was so cute seeing all the cousins together. As the family gets bigger and bigger it’s hard for us ALL to be together so it’s nice to spend that quality time! I appreciated everything Mrs. Charlotte did to make the day happen and I hope she enjoyed her special time with her family!

journeyofphood

Hey Guys, I’m Emily! I’m a stay at home mom and consider parenting to be my passion. Disney is my happy place and I love making memories as a family together. I’m a big believer in transparency and share all of my real-life moments as a mother of four.

My work has been featured on Today Parenting and Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. I’m also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.

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Hey I'm Emily! I'm obsessed with all things Disney and can't resist a good deal. I am a firm believer in always being open and transparent (total "over-sharer" right here!). Parenting is my personal passion and I strive to raise my children up in the Lord and for them to look back on their childhoods' with fond, fun memories. I truly believe that life is about the journey and I want to savor every second of it!